China: Why patriotism won’t save the Chinese film industry · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Imagethief comments on  Han Sanping, Chairman of the government-backed China Film Group's call for more patriotism in Chinese movies: If Han Sanping truly loves the Chinese film industry he should therefore do everything in his power to ensure that the government sets it free, because at the moment it's in pretty woeful shape, and dictating priorities from the top is not going to help. Chinese films (and imports shown in theaters here) can't have sex, superstition, Chinese gangs or excessive violence. That's basically the entire movie-making playbook off-limits before the cameras even roll. Furthermore, since there are no film ratings in China, all films must be suitable for all audiences. In a country with 1.3 billion people that sets the lowest common denominator pretty low indeed.